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V 


p  \$m. 


A    SERMON 


DRI.IVKRKI)  IN 


THE  CHAPEL  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


Dec.    lOth,    1876, 


REV.    JOHN    T.     DUFFIELD,     D.D.. 

I'ROFKSSOR    ol'    MATHEMATICS. 


iFiitliBliea.  To^r  Z2,eq.-va.est. 


PRiyCETON: 

'Itrss    I'FIIMING    ESTAril.lSiniK.^T. 


lake  Jict'd  tlnrcforc  Jio7i<  yc  licary — I  a  K  i-:  vi  i  i,  I S. 

The  sceptic  Holin^hroke — who  h;itl  no  L,n'eat 
respect  for  the  c!er^"\'  of  his  da}' — remarked,  tliat  to 
his  mind  the  strongest  proof  of  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  reh^^ion  was,  that  in  s])ite  of  such  preach- 
ing^ as  was  ordinarily  heard  from  its  ministers  it  still 
survived.  This  remark,  intended  as  mere  sarcasm, 
has  in  it  far  more  of  truth  than  w.is  apprehended 
b)'  the  \\'itt\'  statesman  who  uttered  it.  The  trea- 
sure of  the  Gospel  has  indeed  been  put,  as  the 
Apostle  expresses  it.  "  in  earthen  vessels,  that  tlie 
excellenc)'  of  the  power" — that  strau'^e  power  which 
even  its  enemies  are  constrained  to  acknowled^^e  it 
possesses — "  ma\'  be  of  (lod  and  not  of  us."  "  By 
the  foolishness  of  |)reachinL(,"  even  in  the  sense  c^f 
poor  preachin^.^,  it  often  "  pleases  God  to  save  them 
that  believe."  Whilst,  however,  God  ma\'  and  often 
does  bless  to  the  salvation  of  souls  the  feeblest 
efforts  of  the  feeblest  of  Mis  servants,  it  is  doubtless 
true   that   the   comparative!}'  limited  success   of  the 


Christian  reliction,  now  after  eighteen  hundred 
years  of  Gospel  preaching,  is,  humanly  speaking, 
largely  due  to  the  lack  of  ability  and  lack  of  fidelity 
of  the  heralds  of  salvation.  At  the  same  time, 
whilst  it  is  undeniable  that  poor  preaching  is  an 
evil  far  too  common,  there  is  another  kindred  evil 
no  less  common,  to  which  the  tardy  progress  of 
Christ's  kingdom  is  in  larger  measure  due — I  mean, 
poor  Jicaring. 

It  is  to  this  evil  that  with  marked  significance 
our  attention  is  directed  by  the  exhortation,  or 
rather  the  solemn  warning,  with  which  the  Saviour 
closes  his  interpretation  of  the  parable  of  the  sower, 
"  take  heed  therefore  Jiow  ye  hear''  He  seems  to 
have  anticipated  the  reception  which  is  ordinarily 
given  to  the  Gospel  message. 

There  are  many  who  appear  in  the  house  of 
God,  sabbath  after  sabbath,  who  act  as  if  they 
thought  that  their  whole  duty  with  respect  to  this 
ordinance  was  fulfilled  by  the  mere  fact  of  their 
presence,  or  at  least  by  respectful  decorum  during 
the  exercises  of  worship ;  who  treat  the  services  of 
the  sanctuary  as  if  they  were  nothing  more  than  a 
mere  ceremony  to  be  decently  performed,  a  ritual  ser- 
vice to  be  gravely  gone  through    w^ith  ;  who  seem 


to  regard  Divine  truth  as  something  which  it  nuu' 
be  their  dut}'  to  hear  but  in  respect  to  which,  when 
heard,  all  duty  ceases. 

Of  these  hearers  but  not  heeders  of  the  Gospel 
there  are  two  classes  that  deserve  special  mention — 
they  who  sit  within  the  sound  of  the  preacher's 
voice  and  )-et  may  be  said  not  to  hear  at  all,  and 
they  who  hear  indeed  but  hear  amiss. 

The  former  class  are  the  list/css  hearers  —  if 
hearers  they  may  by  courtesy  be  called.  Brought 
to  the  house  of  God  by  constraint,  or  custom,  or  to 
gratify  pious  friends,  or  to  see  and  be  seen,  or  pos- 
sibly from  some  vague  sense  of  duty,  yet  wdien  here 
they  sit  with  listless  unconcern  whilst  "  the  glorious 
Gospel  of  the  blessed  God  "  is  proclaimed  in  their 
hearing.  Their  attention  is  fixed  on  anything  rather 
than  the  truths  proclaimed  from  the  pulpit.  Bodily 
present  in  the  sanctuary,  they  are  virtually  absent 
— their  minds  wandering  like  "  the  fool's  eyes  "  of 
the  proverb  "  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  " — their  im- 
agination roving  over  their  secular  pursuits,  their 
pleasures,  it  may  be  their  very  sins.  So  far  as  they 
are  concerned  the  preacher  might  as  well  be  speak- 
ing in  an  unknown  tongue.  As  his  eye  falls  on  one 
and   another  of  these  listless    hearers,   he  feels  not 


untrcquentl}'  as  the  prophet  must  have  felt  in  the 
valley  of  vision,  when  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
unto  hirn  sa\'ini^,  "  Prophesy  to  the  dry  bones."  The 
attetnpt  to  make  on  them  any  impression  is  as  if 
one  should  attempt  to  write  upon  glass.  These  are 
the  "  \\a\'side"  hearers  of  the  parable.  The  seeds  of 
truth,  so  far  as  they  reach  their  minds  at  all,  lie  for 
a  little  time  on  the  hard,  dry,  barren  surface,  and  the 
devil  snatches  them  away.  The}^  go  from  the 
sanctuary  without  profit — would  that  I  could  say, 
without  sin — they  leave  at  the  Church  door  all 
that  they  have  heard,  and  ere  an  hour  has  passed 
every  impression  of  the  service  has  faded  from  their 
memory  and  become  to  them  like  the  visions  of  a 
forgotten  dream. 

The  other,  and  in  such  a  community  as  this  by 
far  the  larger  class  of  those  who  hear  but  heed  not, 
are  they  who  listen  indeed — it  may  be  with  close 
attention  and  ev^en  interest — and  yet  apparentl\' with- 
out any  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the  truth  pro- 
claimed is  practical,  and  is  addressed  to  themselves 
personally,  that  it  concerns  their  most  precious 
interests,  and  will  be  profitable  only  so  far  as  they 
"  receive  it  with  faith  and  love,  laying  it  up  in  their 
hearts   and    practicing    it    in     their    lives."       Their 


interest  is  inainl\-  if  not  wholly  intelleclual.  The)' 
listen  to  a  sermon  with  the  same  kind  of  interest  as 
that  with  which  they  would  listen  to  a  platform 
lecture  or  a  Uterary  oration.  They  go  to  the  sanctu- 
ary not  to  be  spiritually  edified  but  to  be  entertained 
— hungering  and  thirsting  it  ma\'  be,  but  not  for 
the  bread  of  life  and  the  water  of  life.  Like  the 
Athenians  of  Paul's  day,  they  are  desirous  to  "  hear 
some  new  thing,"  or  at  least  old  things  presented 
in  some  new  way.  And  hence  it  is  that  so  many 
Gospel  hearers  at  the  present  day  have  what  the 
Apostle  calls  "  itching  ears,"  that  are  not  satisfied 
with  preaching  that  does  not  abound  with  sensa- 
tional anecdote,  and  flowers  of  rhetoric,  and  flights 
of  the  imagination,  and  flashes  of  wit,  and  bursts  of 
eloquence.  Epicures  in  their  religious  tastes,  they 
have  no  relish  for  spiritual  food  that  is  not  highly 
spiced,  and  that  too  with  the  very  thing  which  the 
Apostle  of  set  purpose  refrained  from  using,  "  the 
enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom." 

With  this  mis-appreciation  of  the  great  end  for 
which  preaching  was  instituted,  and  estimating  it  by 
this  false  standard,  it  is  not  strange  that  their  inter- 
est in  it  either  terminates  with  the  service,  or  expends 
itself  in  subsequent  criticism  of  the  sermon,  com- 


8 


mending  what  they  esteem  its  merits,  condemn- 
ing wliat  they  deem  its  defects,  discussing  its  logic, 
and  its  rhetoric,  and  the  manner  of  its  delivery,  and 
comparing  other  preachers  with  him  who  afforded 
them  their  last  religious  entertainment.  Many 
habitually  do  this,  and  only  this,  without  a  thought 
of  giving  heed  to  the  truths  proclaimed;  and  do  this, 
not  only  without  self-reproach  but  rather  with  com- 
placency that  they  are  taking  an  interest  in  religious 
things,  and  that  in  respect  to  preaching  they  are 
"  doing  God  service,"  and  all  the  service  that  is 
therein  required. 

And  is  this  all  our  dut\'  in  regard  to  God's 
appointed  means  for  our  salvation — to  imitate  the 
folly  of  a  patient,  diseased  nigh  unto  death,  who 
when  the  physician  announces  to  him  the  only 
remedy  for  his  case,  either  refuses  to  hear,  or  hears 
only  to  criticize  the  manner  of  the  announcement  ?  Is 
this  all  our  duty,  to  imitate  the  folly  of  prisoners  under 
grievous  bondage,  to  whom  a  messenger  of  author- 
ity comes  and  opening  their  prison  doors  proclaims 
to  them  a  pardon,  and  they  begin  to  talk  to  one 
another  about  the  herald's  voice,  and  style,  and 
emphasis,  and  gestures,  and  perhaps  find  fault  that  he 
read  to   them   their    pardon    when  he  might  have 


conimittcd  it  to  nicinor\'  and  recited  it,  or  pcradvcn- 
turc  complain  that  sonic  other  messenger  had  not 
been  sent  \\-hose  manner  would  have  been  more 
interesting  and  impressive,  who  would  ha\e  enter- 
tained them  with  a  more  thrilling  description  of  their 
wretchedness,  or  would  have  depicted  more  vividly 
the  blessedness  of  that  freedom  to  which  they  were 
in\-ited — and  then  turn  themselves  over  in  their 
chains  and  give  no  further  heed  to  the  message  of 
pardon  ? 

The  Gospel  of  salvation  deserves  other  treat- 
ment at  our  hands  than  this.  We  come  to  the 
house  of  God  to  take  part  in  no  mere  outward  form 
and  empty  ceremony.  The  service  we  here  engage 
in — if  it  be  not  wholly  meaningless — is  one  of  the 
most  precious  privileges  and  solemn  duties  of  our 
earthl}'  existence,  and  involves  in  it  the  gravest 
responsibility.  We  can  not  with  impunity,  slight 
the  summons  of  the  context,  "  If  any  man  have 
ears  to  hear  let  him  hear  ;"  nor  can  we  without  sin 
despise  the  Saviour's  admonition,  "  Take  heed  Jiow 
ye  lie  ay y 

Let  us  consider  briefl}^  some  of  the  reasons  why 
we  should  give  heed — in  the  language  of  the  Apostle 
to  the  Hebrews,  should  ''give  the  Diore  earnest 
heecf' — to  the  Gospel  message. 


lO 

Wc  should  do  so,  in  the  first  place,  because  of  its 
Author.  It  is  a  message  from  God — a  communication 
from  heaven  to  men — not  indeed  so  immediate,  but 
as  direct  as  when  at  Sinai  the  assembled  host 
heard  Jehovah's  voice  proclaiming,  "  Thou  shalt  have 
no  other  Gods  before  me."  If  preaching  were  but 
the  expression  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the 
occupant  of  the  pulpit,  neglect  and  criticism  might  be 
excused — yea,  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary  might  well 
be  closed.  But  such  is  not  the  preacher's  office.  He 
comes  to  mfcn  on  no  private  errand,  or  to  gain 
any  merely  personal  ends.  His  warrant  is  the  voice 
of  God  proclaiming,  "  I  have  set  thee  a  watchman 
unto  the  house  of  Israel,  therefore  thou  shall  hear 
the  \vord  at  my  mouth  and  warn  men  from  me." 
His  authority  is  the  Lord's  command  "  Go,  preach 
my  Gospel."  His  commission  is  sealed  with  the 
seal  of  heaven's  court,  and  bears  this  endorsement 
by  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  "  He  that  receiveth  you 
receiveth  me,  and  he  that  rejecteth  you  rejecteth 
me."  He  comes  to  men  as  "  the  ambassador  of 
Christ" — yea,  "  as  though  God  did  beseech  you 
by  us  we  pra}'  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled 
to  God."  When  Gospel  truth  is  preached  it  is  God 
that  speaks — man  is  but  the  instrument. 


I  I 

Nor  should  \vc  fail  in  this  conncclion  to  observe 
the  special  sense  in  which  the  truth  we  preach  bears 
the  stamp  of  divinit\-  upon  it.  "  At  sundry  times 
and  in  dix'crs  manners  God  spake  in  times  past  unto 
the  fathers  by  the  prophets."  lie  "  hath  in  these 
last  days  spoken  unto  us  b}-  his  Son."  The  law 
was  given  by  Moses  ;  the  gracious  truth  we  preach 
came  by  Jesus  Christ.  "  Therefore,"  argues  an 
inspired  Apostle,  "  we  should  give  the  more  earn- 
est heed"  to  the  gospel  message.  "  For  if  the  word 
spoken  by  angels  was  steadfast  and  every  transgres- 
sion and  disobedience  receiv^ed  a  just  recompense  of 
reward,  how  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so -great 
salvation,  which  began  to  be  spoken  b\'  the  Lord, 
and  was  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that  heard 
Him?" 

But  further,  we  should  "  take  heed  how  we  hear" 
the  Gospel,  not  only  because  it  is  a  message  from 
God  as  its  Author,  but  because  it  is  a  revelaiioii  of 
God  as  its  subject. 

What  higher  theme  can  occupy  the  mind  of  man 
or  angel  than  Jehovah's  adorable  character  and  attri- 
butes and  works.  "  This  is  eternal  life" — the  very 
life  of  an  immortal  spirit — "to  know  Thee,  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus   Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent." 


And  wliat  revelation  has  Jehovah  ever  made  of  him- 
self comparable  to  that  which  is  made  in  the  Gospel 
of  His  Son.  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  firmament  showeth  forth  His  handi- 
work." '■  The  invisible  things  of  God  are  clearly 
seen  in  the  things  which  He  has  made,  even  His 
eternal  power  and  Godhead."  Wherever  we  turn 
our  eyes,  on  field  or  flood,  rock,  hill  or  dale,  tree, 
plant  or  flower,  the  heavens,  the  earth,  ourselves, — 
without,  within,  above,  beneath,  around — in  atom  or 
in  world,  in  insect  or  archangel — we  behold  a  mani- 
festation of  God's  power  and  wisdom.  And  yet, 
before  "  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of 
God  as  it  shines  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ"  all  other 
revelations  that  He  has  made  of  Himself  to  men, 
pale  as  the  light  of  a  taper  pales  when  the  sun  rises 
in  its  strength.  Here  we  behold  a  display  of  Divine 
poivcr,  greater  than  that  manifested  when  out  of 
nothing  the  universe  was  spoken  into  being.  Here 
we  behold  a  displa}'  of  Divine  wisdom,  not  only  sur- 
passing all  other  revelations  ever  made  to  us,  but 
the  crowning  act  of  a  grand  scheme  devised  by  the 
All-wise  an^l  executed  by  the  Almighty  *'  to  the  in- 
tent," as  declared  by  the  Spirit  of  inspiration,  "  that 
unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places 


miLjht  be  known  the  nianiToUl  wisdom  of  God." 
Here  we  behold  the  justice  of  God  inflexible,  and 
His  trutJi  immutable,  tluni^h  tested  b>'  the  stren<j^th 
of  the  infinite  affection  of  God  the  Father  for  God 
the  Son.  Here  we  behold  the  elsewhere  unseen 
attribute  of  mercy — the  mercy  of  God  for  the  un- 
godly ;  yea,  more  than  mercy  —  i^racc,  "riches 
o{  grace  unsearchable;"  yea,  more  than  grace — 
the    Io7'C    of   God    for    sinners — rcdconim^    love,     a 

<Z>  ' 

precious  mystery  which  we  cannot  comprehend, 
we  can  only  believe,  rejoice  in  and  adore.  The 
angels,  who  excel  in  knowledge  as  they  "  excel  in 
strength,"  who  behold  with  unv^eiled  vision  the  light 
to  mortals  inaccessible,  turn  from  all  that  is  revealed 
of  God  in  heaven,  to  gaze  with  admiring  wonder  and 
a  new  delight  on  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  at- 
tributes here  displayed,  wherein  the\'  are  permitted  to 
behold  the  development  and  anticipate  the  consum- 
mation of  one,  and  probably  one  of  the  most  glori- 
ous, of  the  eternal  purposes  of  Him  who  is  "  infinite 
in  counsel  and  almight)^  in  working."  In  the  Gospel 
is  presented  to  us  that  which  is  adequate  to  minis- 
ter in  overflowing  measure  to  the  gratification  of  the 
highest  faculties  of  our  spiritual  nature — those  of 
knowledge,  of  love,  and  of  holiness — faculties,  in  the 


14 

right  exercise  of  which,  \vc  may  share  the  dehghts 
of  angels, — yea,  ma}-  in  our  measure  have  an  experi- 
ence of  that  joy  in  which  Jehovah  himself  rejoices. 
And  shall  we  be  engrossed  with  the  beggarly  things 
of  this  world,  and  be  uninterested  in  things  heavenly 
and  divine  ?  Shall  we  be  ever  feeding  on  the  husks 
of  this  world's  wisdom  wdien  God  is  showering 
around  us  heavenly  manna,  and  inviting  us  to  par- 
take to  the  full  of  angel's  food  ?  Or  does  it  not 
become  us  to  give  "  earnest  heed  "  to  these  precious 
and  ennobling  truths,  "  lest  at  any  time  we  should 
let  them  slip?" 

But  again, — not  only  should  we  give  heed  to  the 
Gospel  message  because  it  is  from  God  as  its 
Author,  and  a  revelation  of  God  as  its  subject 
— it  has  an  additional  and  peculiarly  binding 
claim  on  our  regard,  because  of  the  great  end  for 
which  this  message  has  been  sent,  this  revelation 
made,  to  men.  The  truth  we  preach  is  "  the 
wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God "  unto 
salvation — our  personal  salvation  from  eternal  death. 

Upon  whatever  theme  God  might  see  fit  to  address 
the  children  of  men  the  message  would  deserve  and 
should  receive  our  devout  and  heedful  regard. 
Were  He  to  unlock  the  secret  chambers  of  His  prov- 


idcnccand  disclose  to  us  "  llu-  hidin;_;,s  of  His  power," 
were  He  to  reveal  to  us  tlie  mysteries  of  nature — 
the  laws  and  operations  of  those  physical  forces  that 
in  ceaseless  activity  according  to  His  will  work  out 
the  phenomena  of  the  material  world — were  He  to 
speak  to  us  of  the  stars  or  of  the  anc^els  or  make 
known  to  us  luiknown  truth  in  reg'ard  to  an\'  of  the 
wondrous  works  of  His  creation,  should  we  not  lis- 
ten with  absorbed  attention  and  unw^earied  interest? 
And  shall  we  sit  with  listless  ears,  or  hear  with 
heedlessness,  when  Jehovah  speaks  to  tell  us  of^w- 
seh'cs — of  our  spiritual  relations  and  our  eternal 
interests  ;  when  God  himself,  in  the  person  of  his 
Son,  comes  to  us  bringing  our  "  life  and  immortality 
to  light" — teaching  us  wdiat  we  are,  and  why  we 
are,  and  the  destiny  that  awaits  us  ?  Shall  we  refuse 
to  look,  or  look  with  stolid  unconcern,  when  God 
lifts  the  veil  behind  which  lies  the  life  beyond  the 
grave,  and  discloses  to  our  view,  on  the  one  hand  the 
burning  pit,  and  on  the  other  "  the  far  more  exceed- 
ing and  eternal  weight  of  glory  ?"  Shall  we  be  as 
deaf  men  and  as  blind  men  amid  such  sights  and 
sounds  of  warning  and  of  merc)^  ? 

Especialh',  shall  we  be  heedless  when  Jehovah 
speaks  to  tell  us  not  only  of  our  danger  but  of  our 


i6 


remedy — not  only  of  our  peril  but  how  we  may 
escape  it  ;  when  He  forewarns  us  of  the  coming 
storm  of  wrath  and  fiery  indignation,  and  then  points 
us  to  Him  who  is  "  an  hiding  place  from  the  wind, 
A  covert  from  the  tempest,  a  shadow^  from  the  heat, 
when  the  blast  of  the  terrible  ones  " — the  unre- 
strained malignity  of  Satan,  permitted  in  just  judg- 
ment— "  is  as  a  storm  against  the  wall  ?"  Fellow- 
sinners,  will  ye  not  give  heed  to  the  Gospel  message — 
gladdest  tidings,  to  them  that  hearken,  ever  heard  by 
human  ears  ?  Ye,  upon  whom  the  burden  of  un- 
pardoned sin  is  resting,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  aw^ay  the  sin  of  the  world."  Ye,  who 
have  destroyed  yourselves,  behold  Him  who  is  "  the 
resurrection  and  the  life."  Rebels,  listen  to  the 
proclamation  of  your  pardon.  Bondmen  of  Satan, 
accept  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 
Prodigals,  there  are  blessed  mansions  prepared  for  you 
in  your  father's  house — parental  affection  is  waiting 
with  outstretched  arms  to  embrace  you  as  a  son 
that  was  dead  and  is  alive  again,  as  a  child  that  was 
lost  and  is  found.  Can  men  refuse  to  hear  this 
gracious  message,  or  hear  it  without  heeding  ?  Can 
they  not  only  despise  God's  threatenings  but  slight 
His  love  and  trifle  with  their  own  eternal  welfare  ? 


K'5,  injii  can  and  do — alas,  how  many  do  it — alas, 
how  oftca.  And  in  view  of  this,  does  the  Apostle 
unreasonably  ask.  How  sliall  tJicy  cscafn- wJio  JiCLiicct 
so  gn'at  salvation — a  salvation  that  has  claims  upon 
their  regard  commensurate  with  the  preciousness  of 
the  soul,  and  the  duration  of  eternity,  and  the  desira- 
bleness of  heavenly  joys,  and  the  dreadfulness  of 
hell's  torments — commensurate  with  the  very  infini- 
tude of  the  love  of  Christ,  the  length,  the  breadth, 
the  depth,  the  height  of  which,  "  passeth  knowl- 
edge ?  " 

And  further — as  you  value  your  soul's  sahation, 
"  take  heed  how  ye  hear  "  the  Gospel,  not  only  because 
it  x?,  fyoDi  God  as  its  author,  and  is  <'^God  as  its  sub- 
ject, and  has  our  sahationiox  its  object, — it  behooves 
us  to  give  heed,  because  the  sahation  here  revealed 
— the  only  salvation  "  under  heaven  among  men, 
whereby  we  must  be  saved,"  if  saved  at  all — is  a 
salvatio)i  that  ean  be  attained  in  no  other  7cay  than 
by  giving  earnest,  diligent,  lifelong  heed  thereto. 
According  to  the  GosjdcI  method  of  sah-ation  the 
appointed  means  of  grace  are  not  like  a  fetish  or  a 
charm.  They  do  not  act  upon  the  soul  diseased  like 
medicine  on  the  body,  b>'  an  efficacy  in  themselves 
and  independent  of  our  will  and  consciousness.     Sal- 


vation  is  not  to  be  attained  by  sprinkling  or  immersion, 
or  by  having  our  absolution  pronounced  by  a  regu- 
larly ordained  priest,  or  by  having  a  successor  of  the 
Apostles  lay  his  consecrated  hands  upon  our  head. 
Were  the  Romish  dogma  of  transubstantiation  true, 
eating  and  drinking  the  very  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  could  not  save  the  soul.  All  such  methods 
of  salvation  belong  to  heathenism  and  the  semi- 
heathenish  perversion  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 
The  salvation  of  the  Gospel  is  indeed  supernatu- 
ral, and  yet  in  an  important  sense — tJic  sense  in 
which  especially  our  responsibility  and  duty  is  in- 
volved— it  is  at  the  same  time  natural,  that  is,  is  in 
entire  accordance  with  our  intellectual  and  moral 
nature.  We  are  regenerated  and  sanctified  by  the 
blessed  Spirit  of  God — but  the  Spirit  operates  upon 
men  tJiroiigJi  the  truth — truth  distinctly  apprehended 
and  diligently  heeded.  We  are  saved  by  grace,  but 
it  is  through  faith,  and  faith  implies  knowledge,  and  to 
attain  that  "  knowledge  that  maketh  wise  unto  salva- 
tion "  we  must "  attend  thereto  with  diligence,  prepara- 
tion and  prayer."  It  is  only  by  earnest  striving  that 
we  can  enter  the  strait  gate,  and  having  entered,  it 
is  only  by  continued  effort  that  we  can  make  pro- 
gress  in   the  narrow  way.      We  must  "  give  all  dili- 


19 

gcncc  "  if  \vc  would  "  make  our  calliiiL^  and  election 
sure."  The  work  demands  the  ceaseless  vigilance 
of  warfare,  the  vii^orous  exertion  of  one  who  is  wrest- 
ling for  the  master\\  the  perse\-erance  of  one  who  is 
running  for  a  prize.  No  attainments  that  we  ever  make 
in  piety  can  release  us  from  the  necessity  for  con- 
tinued watchfulness  and  exertion.  That  model  child 
of  God,  who  was  able  to  say,  "  for  me  to  live  is 
Christ,"  declares  in  the  same  Epistle,  "  I  count  not 
myself  to  have  apprehended  " — that  is,  I  do  not  allow 
myself  to  act  as  if  success  were  already  attained — 
"  but  this  one  thing  I  do  " — as  if  all  the  energies  of 
his  mighty  soul  were  concentrated  in  the  effort 
— "  forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind," 
the  vision  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  the  ston- 
ing at  Lystra,  the  stripjs  and  imprisonment  at 
Phillipi,  yea,  all  that  he  had  hitherto  done  or  suffer- 
ed for  Christ's  sake" — and  reaching  forth  to  those 
things  which  are  before  I  press  toward  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 
And,  brethren,  if  such  an  one  as  Paul  the  aged, 
covered  with  the  scars  of  a  life-long  conflict  and 
bearing  about  in  his  bod)-  the  very  dying  of  the 
Lord  Jesus — if  such  an  one  dare  not  lay  aside  his 
armor  until   he   had  got  the  crown — shall  we  sleep 


20 

at   our  posts   and  yet   hope   to  share  with  him  the 
victory  ? 

Shall  wc  be  carried  to  the  skies, 

On  flowery  beds  of  ease, 
Whilst  others  fought  to  win  the  prize. 

And  sailed  through  blood\-  seas? 

If  "  the  righteous  "'  —  such  righteous  as  the 
martyred  Apostles  —  shall  "  scarcely  be  saved," 
where  shall  such  laggards  in  the  race,  such  cowards 
in  the  fight,  as  we,  appear  ? 

I  will  add  but  one  other  reason  why  we  should 
"take  heed  how  we  hear"  the  Gospel — if  we  heed 
it  not,  it  zvill  hut  aggravate  our  condcnuiatiim  that  ive 
ever  heard  it  at  ail.  He  that  knoweth  not  his  lord's 
will  and  doeth  it  not  "shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes," 
hut  he  that  knoweth  and  doeth  not  "  shall  be  beaten 
with  many  stripes."  There  are  degrees  of  torment 
in  hell,  even  as  there  are  degrees  of  glory  in  the 
heavenly  state.  Some  of  the  redeemed  shall  here- 
after shine  as  the  sun,  others  as  the  moon,  and 
others  as  the  stars.  Even  so,  rest  assured,  one  fallen 
star  differeth  from  another  in  magnitude.  If  this  be 
so,  surely,  if  there  be  one  abyss  in  the  lake  of  fire 
that  burns  with  a  fiercer  flame  than  another,  it  will 


21 


be  that  in  which  those  wretches  are  confined,  who 
from  the  midst  of  Gospel  h'i^ht  and  Gospel  privi- 
leges neglected  and  unheeded,  descend  with  guilt 
unpalliated  to  their  place  o(  torment.  And  if  this 
be  so,  whose  burden  of  woe  hereafter  shall  be 
heavier  than  that  which  )'ou  and  I  must  bear  if  we 
despise  the  Gospel  ?  We  sometimes  pity  the  poor 
heathen,  who  having  never  heard  of  Christ  and  the 
way  of  eternal  life,  go  down  to  the  death  of  those 
who  know  not  God.  Peradventure,  at  the  judgment 
day,  the  poor  heathen  may  pit\'  some  of  us.  We 
read  with  awe  of  the  wrath  of  God  poured  out  in  a 
storm  of  fire  upon  guilty  Sodom  and  G(Miiorrah. 
Peradventure  it  ma\'  be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  in  the  da\^  of  judgment  than  for  us. 
There  is  no  greater  mistake  than  that  which 
many  make,  that  the  Gospel  is  often  preached  without 
effect.  The  blow  that  does  not  break,  hardens.  The 
Gospel  is  never  preached  without  effect — if  not  an 
effect  unto  salvation,  an  effect  unto  destruction.  It 
is  ever  "  a  sweet  savour  of  Christ  both  in  them  that 
are  saved  and  in  them  that  perish — to  the  one  a 
savour  of  life  unto  life,  to  the  other  a  savour  (^f  death 
unto  death."  Its  effect  for  weal  or  woe  on  every  one 
who   hears    it    is    inevitable.       And   there    are    few 


22 

upon  whom  its  effect  is  so  momentous  as  upon 
those  who  hear  it  and  imagine  that  it  has  produced 
no  effect   upon  them  at  all. 

I  beseech  you  therefore,  "  take  heed  how  ye 
hear"  the  Gospel.  Hear  it  with  that  reverence 
with  which  we  should  listen  to  the  voice  of  God 
speaking  by  His  ambassador.  Hear  it  with  the 
devout  emotion  we  should  feel,  in  beholding 
the  most  glorious  manifestation  of  God,  ever 
made  to  the  intelligent  creation.  Hear  it  with  the 
deep  interest  of  personal  concern  therein — even  as  a 
dying  man  would  listen  to  one  announcing  to 
him  a  way — the  only  way  b}'  which  he  may  be 
saved.  Hear  it  with  the  docility  of  one  who  feels 
that  the  life  of  his  soul  depends  upon  his  intelligent 
and  sincere  obedience.  Hear  it  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling lest  at  the  last  your  mouth  shall  be  filled  with 
bitterness  and  cursing,  that  you  ever  heard  the 
Gospel. 

And  may  God,  by  his  Spirit,  prevent  his  mes- 
sage to  you  this  day,  being  made  the  occasion  of 
the  very  sin,  against  which  the  message  is  a  warning. 


